CAIRO, Aug 21 (Reuters) – Algeria’s proposed bid for a
majority stake in telecoms group Djezzy is pitched at 4 percent
more than its “fair value”, the company’s parent said on
Thursday, adding impetus towards the completion of the deal
after a lengthy ownership tussle.

Citing a study it commissioned from financial advisers HC,
Djezzy’s parent Global Telecom Holding’s (GTH) said
the stake was worth $2.539 billion, compared with the $2.6
billion price which the Algerian government has agreed to pay.

GTH’s parent, Amsterdam-based Vimpelcom, had agreed
the sale to the Algerian government in April, but it remains to
be voted on by shareholders including minority owners. It was
not clear if a date had been set for any shareholder meeting or
if the deal would still go through even if a significant number
objected.

No-one at GTH could immediately be reached for further
comment. Vimpelcom and its biggest shareholder Altimo, part of
billionaire Mikhail Fridman’s Alfa-Group, declined immediate
comment.

“The offered buy price is higher by 4 percent than the fair
price,” HC was quoted as saying in the statement, which included
a detailed explanation of the methodology behind the valuation.

Via GTH, Vimpelcom had bought Djezzy, or Orascom Telecom
Algeria, in 2010 from Egyptian tycoon Naguib Sawiris as part of
a more than $6 billion deal as it aimed to diversify outside
Russia.

During that same year, Algeria made moves to nationalise
Djezzy, hitting the business with back tax claims and
restrictions on imports and foreign exchange transactions.

With the sale agreement, Vimpelcom would therefore resolve a
long-standing ownership dispute with the Algerian government,
while keeping its control and slashing debt. The dispute had
weighed on Vimpelcom shares, which closed in New York at around
$8.6 on Wednesday, well below a peak of around $19 set in 2010.

The statement said the deal should also be positive for
Djezzy.

“The continuation of the firm (Djezzy) … depends largely
on the completion of the deal, while the alternative is to
continue the dispute with the Algerian government that could
harm the value of the company,” the advisers said.

The deal will help Vimpelcom reduce its $27.5 billion of
gross debt, built up in an acquisition spree, by $4 billion. GTH
will keep a 45.6 percent stake and will buy the remaining 3.4
percent of Djezzy shares from minority shareholder Cevital for
$178 million, Vimpelcom said in April.

CAIRO/JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Hamas rejected on Saturday as insufficient offers made in Cairo to Palestinian negotiators seeking to end Israel’s offensive in the Gaza Strip, and raised the possibility of renewed fighting when the current truce expires.

Israel said it had also not yet accepted any proposals made in the Egyptian-mediated talks but, like the Palestinians, its envoys would continue attending them on Sunday.

The ceasefire concludes on Monday night.

Hamas, Gaza’s dominant Islamist group, wants an Israeli-Egyptian blockade on the coastal enclave lifted, as well as the establishment of a seaport and airport, as part of any enduring cessation of hostilities with the Jewish state.

“Israel must accept the demands of the Palestinian people or face a long war,” Osama Hamdan, the head of Hamas’s foreign affairs, said on Facebook.

Israel, which launched its offensive on July 8 after a surge in cross-border Hamas rocket attacks, has shown scant interest in making sweeping concessions. The Israelis want Gaza to be disarmed under any long-term deal – something Hamas rules out.

Egypt, which is mediating between the sides and, like Israel, views Hamas as a security threat, has given little detail on any progress in the talks.

“As of now, Israel has not agreed to any proposals,” an Israeli official said on condition of anonymity.

“Understandings (on a long-term truce) will be reached only if they clearly satisfy Israel’s security interests,” the official added, without elaborating.

Israeli envoys were due to return to Cairo on Sunday, as was a Palestinian delegation including representatives of Hamas and of U.S.-backed President Mahmoud Abbas, who brought his former Islamist rivals into a unity government in April.

Speaking in Ramallah, the seat of his government in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, Abbas promoted Cairo’s mediation. Turkey and Qatar, regional powers sympathetic to Hamas, have also sought to serve as go-betweens – to Israel’s chagrin.

“Our goal is to stop the fighting and to stick to the Egyptian initiative, and no other,” Abbas said in a televised speech.

INDIRECT NEGOTIATIONS

The United Nations said 425,000 of the 1.8 million population of Gaza have been displaced by the war, which has killed more than 1,900 Palestinians and, on the Israeli side, 64 soldiers and three civilians.

Most of the Palestinian dead have been non-combatants, Gaza hospital officials say.

Israel and the Palestinians agreed on Wednesday to extend a ceasefire agreement in Gaza by five days to continue indirect negotiations on a lasting truce.

The two sides are not meeting face-to-face in Cairo: Israel regards Hamas, which advocates its destruction, as a terrorist group.

The Gaza offensive has had broad public support in Israel. However, the prospect of a long-term truce that improves Hamas’s economic or diplomatic standing has drawn misgivings among Israelis and within Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s rightist government.

Some Israeli opposition figures point to the war, and the intractable relationship with Hamas, as cause to rekindle peace talks with Abbas that Netanyahu froze over the Palestinian leader’s pact with Hamas.

Abbas, for his part, had chafed at Jewish settlement-building in the West Bank, where, along with Gaza, Palestinians seek statehood.

Several thousand Israelis from left-wing parties and activist groups demonstrated against government policy in Tel Aviv on Saturday.

CAIRO, June 30 (Reuters) – Egypt announced deep cuts in
energy subsidies in its budget for the 2014/15 fiscal year on
Monday, a first step toward reducing the deficit after three
years of political turmoil that have battered the economy.

Some 40 billion pounds ($5.59 billion) worth of savings were
made by curbing planned spending on energy subsidies to 100.3
billion pounds in the next fiscal year, Finance Minister Hany
Kadry Dimian told a news conference.

President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi rejected the first draft of
the budget, which comes into effect on Tuesday, complaining that
it was too extravagant and mounting debts would leave nothing
for future generations.

Sisi approved on Sunday a tightened budget that seeks to
reduce the deficit to 10 percent of gross domestic product in
the next fiscal year, from an expected shortfall of 12 percent
in the 2013/14 fiscal year that ended on Monday.

The budget deficit was around 14 percent in the fiscal year
ending June 2013.

“There is a bottleneck that we need to get through… There
will be a burden that we have to all endure,” Dimian said.

Dimian did not announce exactly how the energy subsidy
savings would be made and said there was no timeline for
petroleum price increases or other reforms for the sector.

Egypt originally budgeted 99.6 billion pounds in energy
subsidies for this fiscal year, but a finance ministry spokesman
said this target had not been met and the actual spending on
energy subsidies was closer to 144 billion pounds.

The spokesman said savings would come through redistribution
and restructuring, without giving details.

GROWTH TOO WEAK

The country of 85 million is in dire need to increase
revenue and curve spending since a popular uprising in 2011
ousted autocrat Hosni Mubarak and deterred foreign investors and
tourists, once a major source of foreign currency.

Revenue in the new budget is expected rise by 8 percent to
548.6 billion pounds for the fiscal year ending June 2015, the
minister said, while spending will climb by 7 percent to 789.4
billion pounds.

Dimian said the Egyptian economy was expected to grow by
more than 3 percent in the next fiscal year, after two percent
expected in the current fiscal year.

Three percent growth is in line with previous forecasts and
too low to create enough jobs for the rapidly growing population
in this country of 86 million.

The turmoil of the past three years, with two presidents
overthrown and hundreds of people killed in the streets, has hit
the tourist industry and investment, worsening a huge
unemployment problem and pushing up the budget deficit.

Subsidy cuts could prove unpopular with many ordinary
Egyptians struggling to make ends meet, particularly during the
month of Ramadan, when Muslims fast from dawn until dusk.

]]>http://blogs.reuters.com/asmaalsharif/2014/06/30/egypt-curbs-energy-subsidies-spending-in-tighter-new-budget/feed/0The poor long for help as Egypt’s new president is sworn inhttp://www.reuters.com/article/2014/06/08/us-egypt-sisi-poverty-idUSKBN0EJ0NA20140608?feedType=RSS&feedName=everything&virtualBrandChannel=11563
http://blogs.reuters.com/asmaalsharif/2014/06/08/the-poor-long-for-help-as-egypts-new-president-is-sworn-in/#commentsSun, 08 Jun 2014 16:02:25 +0000http://blogs.reuters.com/asmaalsharif/?p=436By Asma Alsharif

CAIRO (Reuters) – A few hundred meters from the fluttering flags, patriotic songs and dancing crowds outside the constitutional court where Abdel Fattah al-Sisi was sworn in as Egypt’s president on Sunday, the mood was decidedly downbeat.

In the Dar el-Salam slum, frowning, pensive men sat on stools on a cracked sidewalk surrounded by crumbling bare brick buildings, hoping to be picked up by contractors, their hammers and picks beside them.

The lucky ones get a day of back-breaking work for meager pay.

Unemployment, low wages and poverty triggered the 2011 revolt that toppled autocrat Hosni Mubarak but delivered few tangible benefits, making Egyptians sceptical of their leaders.

“The revolution happened and we haven’t seen a thing. I hope the situation will improve, but God only knows,” said Ahmed Mohamed, 57, his face worn by 30 years of toiling on construction sites to try to support his three children.

Stagnation has dragged on since former army chief Sisi ousted Mohamed Mursi of the Muslim Brotherhood last summer after mass protests against his rule. While official figures put unemployment at around 13 percent, the real figure is widely believed to be far higher.

The calls for bread, freedom and social justice which fired up the revolt that removed Mubarak and rang out against Mursi could also become Sisi’s nightmare if he does not move fast to fix high unemployment and a widening budget deficit.

The unemployed day labourers sit on the same stools, on the same sidewalk, year after year. None seemed confident Sisi is the leader who will finally reach out to them.

HISTORY REPEATING ITSELF?

Egypt’s Gulf Arab allies Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait have given Egypt more than $12 billion in cash and petroleum products since Mursi’s fall.

But none seems to have trickled down to the poor, who represent one in four of the population living on less than $1.65 a day.

Some, like Ghazzawi Mostafa, a 26-year-old father of two, fear history is repeating itself: domination by the wealthy while the less fortunate go unnoticed.

“The state is still the same. We’re always the bums sitting on the sides of the street,” said Mostafa. He makes around 200 Egyptian pounds ($27.97) a month on odd jobs.

Officials forecast economic growth at just 3.2 percent in the fiscal year that begins July 1, well below levels needed to crate enough jobs for a rapidly growing population of 85 million and ease widespread poverty.

Aside from the country’s financial difficulties, a sore point for many is the inequality in wealth distribution that has been the norm for decades.

Under Mubarak, political and business elites thrived while the poor were neglected, creating a large gap in the distribution of wealth which eventually fueled the 2011 uprising.

A newly implemented minimum wage system guarantees that public sector workers will make at least 1,200 Egyptian pounds a month, but some officials earn far more and in the private sector, wages can reach almost a million pounds a month.

Near the upscale strip of the Corniche in the Cairo suburb of Maadi, where top government officials live, the unpaved alleys of Dar el-Salam exude a putrid smell as puddles of sewage are left to fester for weeks.

Fathi Bayoumi, a 60 year old tailor, stands in front of his two-by-four meter shop. A web of electric wires dangle on the bare red brick wall and attach to a single light bulb above his sewing machine, the only accessory in his shop.

“When I go out of this area and see the difference in lifestyles, I return depressed and not wanting to talk to anyone. There is a huge gap and those people cannot imagine the conditions we are living in,” Bayoumi said.

“There are no officials who visit these areas. They just get their positions and forget about us. People are tired… We say may God help Sisi. I’m hopeful because I have to be so that I can live.”

CAIRO Egypt (Reuters) – Egyptians cast their votes in a presidential election on Wednesday that is certain to install former army chief Abdel Fattah al-Sisi as president, but his call for an overwhelming mandate did not appear to have been heeded by voters.

Tareq al-Shibl, a member of the election committee, was quoted by al Ahram, a state-run newspaper, as saying that more than 21 million people voted, or nearly 39 percent of an electorate of 54 million.

That would be less than the 40 million votes, or 80 percent of the electorate, that Sisi had called for last week.

However, a Western diplomat following the vote put the turnout at between 10 million and 15 million votes, which would equate to between 19 and 28 percent of the electorate, much less than the official projection.

The lower turnout figure threatens to undermine Sisi’s credibility as leader of the Arab world’s most populous nation.

It would also suggest that he had failed to rally the support he hoped for after toppling Egypt’s first freely elected president, Islamist Mohamed Mursi, following street protests last year.

A tour of Cairo polling stations on Wednesday saw only a trickle of voters cast their ballots. The same pattern emerged in Egypt’s second city, Alexandria, Reuters reporters said.

In a country polarised since a popular uprising toppled Hosni Mubarak in 2011, the lower than expected turnout was linked to political apathy, opposition to another military man becoming president, discontent at suppression of freedoms among liberal youth, and calls for a boycott by Islamists.

The two-day vote was originally due to conclude on Tuesday but was extended until 9 p.m. (1800 GMT) Wednesday to allow the “greatest number possible” to vote, state media reported.

“The state searches for a vote,” said a front-page headline in privately owned Al-Masry Al-Youm newspaper.

ELECTORAL PROCESS

The Democracy International observer mission said the decision to extend polling raised questions about the integrity of Egypt’s electoral process.

“Last-minute decisions about important election procedures, such as a decision to extend polling by an additional day, should be made only in extraordinary circumstances,” said Eric Bjornlund, president of Democracy International, in a statement.

Sisi’s campaign posted pictures of long lines of voters, some waving Egyptian flags and holding posters of Sisi. “Come out and raise the flag of your country,” it said on Facebook.

A 45-year-old Cairo shopkeeper, who gave her name as Samaa, said at a polling station in downtown Cairo she was supporting Sisi. “Our country can now only be handled by a military man, we need order.”

But no long queues could be seen. An army officer reading a newspaper outside the same Cairo polling station said: “You want to speak with voters? Do you see any voters? I don’t know why they’re not coming, maybe they reject politics.”

Khaled Dawood, a liberal activist, accused the electoral commission and the government of running a chaotic election.

“The feeling is that the result is known in advance and this kind of festival they were creating for Sisi backfired because people no longer buy into this propaganda.

“People in Mubarak’s days did not participate because they knew that their vote wouldn’t make a difference and that is what is happening now,” he said.

Despite an official campaign to bring out more voters, Egyptians, many opposed to Sisi, gave various reasons for their lack of enthusiasm.

The Muslim Brotherhood, believed to have one million members, has rejected the poll, describing it as an extension of the army takeover. The group, loyal to Mursi, was outlawed by the military as a terrorist group and saw around 1,000 members killed in a security crackdown.

“Holding these elections is null and void under the military coup … It cannot be legitimised by elections or in any other way,” said Muslim Brotherhood member Mohamed Abdel Hafeez.

Young secular activists, including those who backed Mursi’s ouster, had become disillusioned with Sisi after many were rounded up in the security crackdown that also restricted protests.

“The low turnout is a slap in the face for Sisi. I hope he now sees that he only has the votes of old women and men but not us, the youth, who are the majority in this country,” said Mohamed Ahmed, 26-year-old employee in a private firm in Cairo.

Voter turnout may have also been down because some Egyptians who decided Sisi’s victory was a foregone conclusion saw no point in casting ballots. Others simply did not want to vote for another military man after Mubarak.

MORE AUSTERITY

Since he gave a series of television interviews, many Egyptians feel Sisi has not spelled out a clear vision of how he would tackle Egypt’s challenges, from widespread poverty to an energy crisis and an Islamist insurgency.

“Now I can say I am a Mursi supporter,” said Ahmed Ali, a 28-year-old Cairo shopkeeper.

Unlike the previous election which brought Mursi to power and was contested by a dozen candidates, Sisi faces only one rival now: the leftist Hamdeen Sabahi, whose campaign rejected the extra day of voting.

The justice ministry said Egyptians who did not vote would be fined, and train fares were waived in an effort to boost the numbers. Local media loyal to the government chided the public for not turning out in large enough numbers, and Muslim and Coptic Christian religious leaders also urged people to vote.

In the Sinai, where Egypt’s most dangerous militants are based, gunmen killed an Egyptian soldier, security sources said.

In an eastern district of Cairo, gunmen opened fire at an electricity station in what the electricity ministry called a “terrorist” attack.

Egypt is suffering from almost daily power cuts as the country faces a massive energy crunch.

CAIRO (Reuters) – Egyptians were initially slow to vote on a hastily added third day of a presidential election on Wednesday after lower-than-expected turnout threatened to damage the credibility of the man widely forecast to win, former army chief Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.

An early tour of Cairo polling stations suggested authorities would again struggle to get more people to cast their ballots. The same pattern emerged in Egypt’s second city, Alexandria, Reuters reporters said.

In a country polarized since a popular uprising toppled Hosni Mubarak in 2011, the low turnout was linked to political apathy, opposition to another military man becoming president, discontent at suppression of freedoms among liberal youth, and calls for a boycott by Islamists.

After months of adulation by the media encouraged by his supporters in government, the security services and business, many Egyptians were shocked when the election failed to produce the mass support predicted by Sisi himself.

For Sisi, who toppled President Mohamed Mursi of the Muslim Brotherhood last year after mass protests against his rule, the stakes are high.

Poor backing in the election in his deeply divided country would mean Sisi’s legitimacy as head of state of the Arab world’s most populous nation would be harmed at home and abroad.

The two-day vote was originally due to conclude on Tuesday but was extended until 9 p.m. (1800 GMT) Wednesday to allow the “greatest number possible” to vote, state media reported.

“The state searches for a vote,” said a front-page headline in privately owned Al-Masry Al-Youm newspaper.

Distancing Sisi from the vote extension, seen by commentators as an embarrassing attempt to attract every last vote from a reluctant electorate, his campaign announced that he had objected to the decision.

Sisi’s campaign posted picture of voters waving Egyptian flags and holding Sisi posters. “Come out and raise the flag of your country,” it said on Facebook.

The decision to extend the voting by a day may prove to be a strategic blunder unless many more Egyptians turn up to vote.

A polling station with 6,200 registered voters in Cairo’s working class Shubra district was empty shortly after polls opened on Wednesday, except for polling staff, soldiers and police.

MILITARY LEADERSHIP

“Supporters of Sisi’s presidential run would have assumed that turnout would have been tremendously high, particularly given the military leadership gave its public approval in order for him to do so,” said H.A. Hellyer, nonresident fellow at the Brookings Institution in Washington and the Royal United Services Institute in London. “Extending voting for a third day, presumably due to a low turnout during the first two days, would belie that assumption – and may call into question the mobilization ability of the state, including the military.”

Despite an official campaign to bring out more voters, polling places were thinly attended for a number of reasons.

The Muslim Brotherhood, believed to have one million members in a country of 85 million, has rejected the poll, describing it as an extension of the army takeover. The group, loyal to Mursi, was outlawed by the military as a terrorist group and saw around 1,000 members killed in a security crackdown.

“Holding these elections is null and void under the military coup … It cannot be legitimized by elections or in any other way,” said Muslim Brotherhood member Mohamed Abdel Hafeez.

Secular activists, including ones who backed Mursi’s ouster, had become disillusioned with Sisi after many were rounded up in the security crackdown that also restricted protests.

Voter turnout may have also been low because some Egyptians who decided Sisi’s victory was a foregone conclusion saw no point in casting ballots. Others simply did not want to vote for another military man after Mubarak.

MORE AUSTERITY

Since he gave a series of television interviews, many Egyptians feel Sisi has not spelled out a clear vision of how he would tackle Egypt’s challenges, from widespread poverty to an energy crisis and an Islamist insurgency.

His message that Egyptians must endure more austerity may have fueled voter apathy in a country where one leader from the military after another failed to improve living standards.

“People are saying to themselves, ‘what is the point of voting?’ I personally know my voice won’t make a difference so I’m not voting,” said Rashad Zeidan, 60, a driver in Cairo.

Unlike the previous election which brought Mursi to power and was contested by a dozen candidates, Sisi faces only one rival now: the leftist Hamdeen Sabahi, whose campaign rejected the extra day of voting.

Some voters doubted whether any further support for Sisi might be found, despite the extension. “I came to see the millions they said were coming to vote. I can’t see anybody except two people and the electoral commission,” said Hussein Hassanein, a 24-year-old law student.

“I won’t vote for either. This is a fake election. We know that Sisi is going to win. Who would you expect me to vote for?”

The justice ministry said Egyptians who did not vote would be fined, and train fares were waived in an effort to boost the numbers. Local media loyal to the government chided the public for not turning out in large enough numbers, and Muslim and Coptic Christian religious leaders also urged people to vote.

Turnout in the 2012 election won by Mursi was 52 percent – a level this vote must exceed for Sisi to enjoy full political legitimacy, said Hassan Nafaa, a professor of political science at Cairo University.

Were it to fall short, then he will have failed “to read the political scene”, he said. Sisi had called for a turnout of 40 million, or 80 percent of the electorate.

Sisi’s supporters see him as the man to rescue the country after three years of upheaval. He became a hero to many for removing Mursi after mass protests.

Sisi has announced his priorities as fighting Islamist militants who have taken up arms since Mursi’s removal, and reviving an economy badly in need of tourists and investors.

]]>http://blogs.reuters.com/asmaalsharif/2014/05/28/egyptians-slow-to-vote-on-extra-day-aimed-at-boosting-turnout/feed/0Egyptians slow to vote on extra day to shore up Sisihttp://www.reuters.com/article/2014/05/28/us-egypt-election-idUSKBN0E70D720140528?feedType=RSS&feedName=everything&virtualBrandChannel=11563
http://blogs.reuters.com/asmaalsharif/2014/05/28/egyptians-urged-to-vote-on-extra-day-to-shore-up-sisi/#commentsWed, 28 May 2014 07:25:20 +0000http://blogs.reuters.com/asmaalsharif/?p=429By Asma Alsharif

CAIRO (Reuters) – Egyptians were initially slow to vote on a hastily added third day of a presidential election on Wednesday after lower-than-expected turnout threatened to damage the credibility of the man widely forecast to win, former army chief Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.

An early tour of Cairo polling stations suggested authorities would again struggle to get people to cast their ballots.

After months of adulation by the media encouraged by his supporters in government, the security services and business, many Egyptians were shocked when the election failed to produce the mass support predicted by Sisi himself.

For Sisi, locked in a battle with the Muslim Brotherhood after toppling Islamist president Mohamed Mursi last year, the stakes are high.

Poor backing in the election in his deeply polarized country would mean Sisi’s legitimacy as head of state of the Arab world’s most popular nation would be harmed at home, in the Middle East and in the wider world.

The two-day vote was originally due to conclude on Tuesday at 10 p.m. (1900 GMT) but was extended until Wednesday to allow the “greatest number possible” to vote, state media reported.

“The state searches for a vote,” said a front-page headline in privately owned Al-Masry Al-Youm newspaper.

Distancing Sisi from the vote extension, seen by commentators as an embarrassing attempt to attract every last vote from a reluctant electorate, his campaign announced that he had objected to the decision.

The decision to extend the voting by a day may prove to be a strategic blunder unless much larger numbers of Egyptians turn up to vote.

A polling station with 6,200 registered voters in Cairo’s working class district of Shubra was empty shortly after polls opened on Wednesday, except for the polling staff, soldiers and police.

MULTIPLE CHALLENGES

“People are saying to themselves, ‘what is the point of voting?’ I personally know my voice won’t make a difference so I’m not voting,” said Rashad Zeidan, 60, as he polished the hood of a luxury car he drives for a wealthy family in Cairo’s upscale Zamalek district.

Sisi has not spelled out how he would tackle Egypt’s multiple challenges, from widespread poverty to an energy crisis and an Islamist insurgency.

Unlike the previous election which brought Mursi to power and was contested by a dozen candidates, Sisi faces only one rival now: the leftist Hamdeen Sabahi.

Sabahi’s campaign rejected the extension of voting as unjustified, given the lack of enthusiasm shown so far by many Egyptians.

In a statement, it denounced the move as an attempt “to prevent the Egyptians from expressing their opinion through manipulating the turnout rates and the voting percentages”.

Some voters doubted whether any further support for Sisi might be found, despite the extension. “I came to see the millions they said were coming to vote. I can’t see anybody except two people and the electoral commission,” said Hussein Hassanein, a 24-year-old law student.

“I won’t vote for either. This is a fake election. We know that Sisi is going to win. Who would you expect me to vote for?”

Lines outside polling stations in various parts of Cairo were short on Tuesday, and in some cases no voters could be seen, even though the military-backed government had launched a determined effort to get out the vote, declaring Tuesday a public holiday.

The justice ministry said Egyptians who did not vote would be fined, and train fares were waived in an effort to boost the numbers. Local media loyal to the government chided the public for not turning out in large enough numbers.

TRAITORS

One prominent television commentator said people who did not vote were “traitors, traitors, traitors”.

Al-Azhar, a state-run body that is Egypt’s highest Islamic authority, said a failure to vote was “to disobey the nation”, state TV reported. Pope Tawadros, head of Egypt’s Coptic church, also appeared on state TV to urge voters to head to the polls.

Turnout in the 2012 election won by Mursi was 52 percent – a level this vote must exceed for Sisi to enjoy full political legitimacy, said Hassan Nafaa, a professor of political science at Cairo University.

Were it to fall short, then he will have failed “to read the political scene”, he said. Sisi had called for a turnout of 40 million, or 80 percent of the electorate.

Sisi’s supporters see him as the man to rescue the country after three years of upheaval. He became a hero to many for removing Mursi after mass protests.

But the Islamists accuse him of staging a bloody coup, and a crackdown on dissent has alienated the liberal young people behind the “Arab Spring” revolution that toppled Hosni Mubarak in 2011.

Trying to lower sky-high expectations in the run-up to the election, Sisi stressed the need for austerity and self-sacrifice, a message that cost him some support and drew some ridicule in a nation of 85 million steeped in poverty.

He had announced his priorities as fighting Islamist militants who have taken up arms since Mursi’s removal, and reviving an economy badly in need of tourists and investors.

CAIRO, May 27 (Reuters) – Egyptian media castigated the
public for a low turnout in a presidential election which
former army chief Abdel Fattah al-Sisi is expected to win, with
one commentator saying those who failed to vote should be shot.

Many journalists support Sisi, the man who toppled Egypt’s
first freely-elected president last July. And with Sisi
seemingly assured of victory, he needs a good turnout to shore
up his legitimacy.

Egypt’s army-backed government declared the second day of
voting on Tuesday a holiday in a bid to get more voters onto
the streets.

“What do you want? I’ll kiss the feet of (your parents)…
Should I take my clothes off and go live on air in the nude in
order for people to believe?” asked popular television
commentator Tawfiq Okasha on private channel al-Faraeen.

Asked what should happen to a woman if she chose to go
shopping or cook on the holiday instead of voting, he slammed
his hand on the desk and shouted: “She should be shot with a
gun. She should shoot herself with a gun.”

The popular uprising which toppled Hosni Mubarak in 2011
raised hopes that the Egyptian press would no longer blindly
back the country’s leaders and would instead take a critical
look at their performance.

Egyptian media, both state and private, have hailed Sisi as
a saviour since he ousted Islamist President Mohamed Mursi after
mass protests and cracked down on his Muslim Brotherhood.

Mubarak’s former military intelligence chief became so
popular that his image appeared on posters, t-shirts and even
chocolates.

But the short lines outside polling stations in various
parts of Cairo on Wednesday suggested the personality cult had
waned as Sisi prepared for many challenges, from a stubborn
Islamist insurgency to an energy crisis.

In some cases voters were nowhere to be found. The polls
close at 10 p.m. (1900 GMT), an hour later than planned.

“We are looking for a popular vote that will make it clear
to the world that this is the will of the people,” said Lamees
al-Hadidi, a popular talk show host on a private news channel.

Two private Egyptian television channels flashed news
urgents on Tuesday quoting officials at the supreme election
committee saying that those who do not vote could be fined and
referred to the public prosecutor.

After Mursi’s overthrow, security forces launched a major
crackdown on the Muslim Brotherhood, cheered on by the media.
Both consider the Brotherhood a terrorist group.

Several Egyptian journalists interviewed by Reuters said it
was their national duty to defend the state because the
Brotherhood posed a threat to its existence.

Mostafa Bakry – an Egyptian commentator who once said
Americans in Egypt should be killed in the streets if the United
States ever harmed Sisi – joined the frenzied media call for a
high turnout to give Sisi a strong mandate.

“Anyone who doesn’t go down to vote, you are giving the kiss
of life to those terrorists,” Bakry shouted as he pointed his
finger at the screen on privately owned Al-Nahar television.

“Go out (to vote), and those who don’t go are traitors,
traitors, traitors, who are selling this country.”

]]>http://blogs.reuters.com/asmaalsharif/2014/05/27/vote-or-else-egyptian-media-warns-public/feed/0Journalists take care of the censorship as Sisi poised to rulehttp://www.reuters.com/article/2014/05/25/egypt-election-media-idUSL3N0O93ZQ20140525?feedType=RSS&feedName=everything&virtualBrandChannel=11563
http://blogs.reuters.com/asmaalsharif/2014/05/25/journalists-take-care-of-the-censorship-as-sisi-poised-to-rule/#commentsSun, 25 May 2014 08:42:51 +0000http://blogs.reuters.com/asmaalsharif/?p=421By Asma Alsharif

CAIRO, May 25 (Reuters) – During Egyptian president Hosni
Mubarak’s autocratic rule, the state often shaped media coverage
to make him appear flawless, hauling in editors who did not fall
into line.

After next week’s presidential election, which former army
chief Abdel Fattah al-Sisi is expected to win, authorities may
not have to impose glowing reviews of his performance.

Many journalists now eagerly engage in self-censorship.

It’s a far cry from the free press many hoped for after the
popular uprising that toppled Mubarak in 2011.

“The idea of a neutral press is a myth that does not exist
and will not exist anywhere in the world. We feel that Egypt is
facing danger and we will perform our duties to protect the
country,” said Samir El Sayid, an editor at state-run Al-Ahram,
Egypt’s most well-known newspaper.

“I have a sense of belonging to Egypt and will do what is
appropriate to serve its interests.”

Many journalists from state and private media have hailed
Sisi as the country’s saviour since he ousted President Mohamed
Mursi last year and cracked down on the Muslim Brotherhood.
Security forces have killed hundreds and thrown thousands in
jail.

MUSLIM BROTHERHOOD

Instead of taking an even-handed approach to the political
struggle that unfolded after Mursi’s overthrow, the media has
opened its own front against the Islamists, supporting the
government view that they are terrorists.

Like the army-backed administration and its wealthy
supporters Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, many
Egyptian journalists view the Brotherhood as an existential
threat, demonising the group in the name of stability.

Neither state nor private media question official assertions
that the Brotherhood is a terrorist group, even though the
authorities have not presented compelling evidence that it was
behind bombings and shootings that have killed hundreds of
police and soldiers since Mursi was toppled.

Rather than using press conferences to ask tough questions
about allegations of human rights abuses, some journalists
voluntarily pledge their backing for the Interior Ministry.

Graphic images of the aftermath of militant attacks on
security forces are on front pages of newspapers on an almost
daily basis, accompanied by praise for Sisi, who served as
military intelligence chief under Mubarak.

Abdel Moneim Abol Fotouh, a moderate Islamist who came
fourth in Egypt’s 2012 presidential election, described pro-army
television stations as “black media”.

He said they aimed to brainwash Egyptians into thinking that
a crackdown on political opposition was part of “a war on
terror”.

Like many other Egyptians, journalists accused Mursi of
usurping power, imposing the Brotherhood’s view of Islam and
mismanaging the economy during his year in office, allegations
he denies.

The Islamist media was shut down almost immediately after
the army takeover and it has not reopened.

“I tried at the beginning of their (the Mursi government’s)
year in power to be a bit balanced. I tried but I can tell you I
was not successful I was not balanced, definitely. How can I be
balanced with a terrorist regime?” asked Lamees al-Hadidi, who
hosts one of Egypt’s most popular television talk shows.

“I decided I don’t want to live under this regime. I am the
opposition and I decided to take the stance of the opposition.”

Hadidi defended the Egyptian media, which treats criticism
from allies and foes alike as a conspiracy to undermine the
country.

She argued that some American television channels have an
agenda and do not come under the same scrutiny, citing coverage
of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars and the mood in the United
States after the Sept. 11 al Qaeda attacks.

Sisi promised that a political road map he announced after
overthrowing Mursi would lead to democracy.

But his comments suggest he believes journalists should
forget about holding the state to account, at least for now, and
serve their country.

“We need to form, in the conscience of citizens, the idea
that Egypt is the big family that everyone must protect. The
nation at this time needs the media to work on this because if
Egypt falls it will not come back,” online news website Sada
Albalad quoted Sisi as saying at a meeting.

He does not need to stress the point, it seems.

In a televised session between Sisi and local journalists,
one stood up and urged Egypt to have a law regulating the media.

“It should not be left to the conscience of the people,” she
said.

Journalists say authorities never force them to change copy
or broadcasts. But there seem to be red lines that can’t be
crossed.

DISSENT WITH A PRICE

A number of Egyptian anchors and commentators who criticised
the army no longer appear in the media, though it is not clear
why. None responded to Reuters requests for interviews.

Hadidi says on occasions when she presented a more balanced
view, she faced a backlash from the public and in some cases was
at risk of prosecution.

“Many times media follows the mainstream, which is wrong. We
get pressured. I am worried I will be a lonely voice as there
are many extreme voices and populism,” Hadidi said.

Egypt has put three Al Jazeera journalists on trial on
charges of aiding members of a “terrorist organisation”. Human
rights groups say the case shows the authorities are trampling
on freedom of expression.

Sticking to the official line is still the safest bet, three
years after hundreds of thousands of Egyptians protested in
Cairo’s Tahrir Square and helped bring down Mubarak.

Some go beyond it.

In a popular private newspaper, Almasry Alyoum, columnist
Ghada Sherif suggested Egyptians should do anything for the man
expected to be their new leader.

“He really doesn’t have to give orders. It is enough for him
to wink or even flutter his eyelashes and he will find us all in
his service,” wrote Sherif.

CAIRO, April 28 (Reuters) – When an explosion in one of
Cairo’s calmer residential areas reduced a five-story building
to rubble, residents feared it was the work of suicide bombers.

Actually, authorities were dynamiting unlicensed buildings,
even though millions of Egyptians are desperate for housing – a
sensitive issue that the country’s new president will face.

After Egyptians vote next month, many will want their new
leader – expected to be former army chief Abdel Fattah al-Sisi -
to tackle the housing crunch as the population explodes.

Sisi is seen as a decisive figure by supporters. But the man
who toppled Egypt’s first freely elected president last year has
not outlined how he plans to ease the country’s social ills,
with the housing crisis one of the most challenging.

Many frustrated Egyptians have taken matters into their own
hands since the 2011 army-backed uprising which toppled Hosni
Mubarak raised false hopes of greater social justice.

They started constructing multi-storey buildings without
seeking the required permits or adhering to safety standards
that may raise the cost of construction.

Some invested their savings in the rows of unfinished
red-brick buildings seen around Cairo’s ring road, concluding
they would get away with living in illegal flats in the chaos of
post-Mubarak Egypt.

But as the government tries to impose order by tearing down
those buildings, many Egyptians will find themselves
empty-handed, raising the prospect of further unrest in a nation
where street protests have removed two presidents in three
years.

“All these people will not remain quiet, they stand up
against the regime and the ruler,” said Adel Soliman, head of
the Strategic Dialogue Forum think-tank. “This is one of the
biggest problems that will face the government.”

Three years of instability has already hammered the economy
and frightened away foreign investors. Those conditions fuelled
the illegal housing boom as shady contractors exploited the
mayhem and rising demand for affordable homes.

Officials say at least 450,000 of these buildings were
constructed without permits in the past three years.

SHATTERED DREAMS

Now a large number will be torn down, dashing the hopes of
people like Safaa Abdelsattar, holding her one-year-old daughter
and pacing around her unfinished flat. Nearby, workers were
tearing down a building, a reminder of her fate.

Times were good when Abdelsattar moved into an illegally
built apartment complex in the Maadi district a year ago. Her
salesman husband invested life savings of 125,000 Egyptian
pounds. They could only afford to furnish one room.

“This was our dream house. Now people want to come and
demolish our dreams. Where will I go with my children?”
Abdelsattar asked, her voice trembling as panic sets in.

She, along with other residents, accuse corrupt officials of
forging the deeds to the land.

The illegal housing boom was fuelled mostly by businessmen
or property developers who were well aware of rising demand and
wanted to make a quick buck under lax government supervision.

They constructed buildings in a rush, bypassing regulations
and sometimes relying on forged documents to sell apartments at
bargain prices, said Ahmad, a real estate broker, and two
contractors who worked on such buildings.

Now the fate of these buildings is in limbo as officials
hunt for illegal or unsafe ones to demolish.

“After the revolution many people started to build on land
that is not theirs … The housing crisis has made people
desperate to buy property as soon as it is available,” said
Ahmad, an agent who helps people find homes in Cairo.

“This is a real problem. People put their life savings in
these housing units and then overnight they will find out that
these apartments do not belong to them.”

POPULATION EXPLOSION

Egypt’s next leader faces a dilemma. Destroying illegal
buildings could trigger a backlash in a country whose population
has grown by one million people in less than six months. Doing
nothing could encourage Egyptians to keep building illegally.

Sisi is not as popular as he was when he ousted President
Mohamed Mursi of the Muslim Brotherhood last July and Egyptians
will expect him to take on a host of challenges – from an
Islamist insurgency to a struggling economy.

The housing issue is especially delicate. It is one of the
starkest reminders of the gap between rich and poor, which
helped trigger the 2011 revolt.

Poverty in Egypt is among the highest in the world, with one
in four Egyptians living on less than $1.65 a day.

While the elite live in gated communities with blossoming
gardens and artificial lakes or in luxury flats overlooking the
Nile, the poor set up homes anywhere they can. Many have no
clean water or sanitation. About half a million people live in a
sprawling Cairo cemetery.

“Poverty has driven them to that and the idleness of
previous governments over the past 40-50 years has resulted in
this. This problem has been accumulating over decades,” said
Khaled Gabarty, executive director of the government’s Informal
Settlement Development Facility.

Egyptian officials say the country will need to provide
500,000 units a year, a target that seems far-fetched for a
nation where plans to build affordable units have repeatedly
fallen short of expectations.

“I don’t think any government in the world can catch up with
such a big number,” Ayman Sami, head of Jones Lang La-Salle’s
Egypt office.

Sisi is seen by supporters as a someone who will deliver
justice and help the poor. Critics accuse him of allowing
Mubarak-era officials and businessmen to dominate Egypt once
again at the expense of the poor.

To Um Mohamed, who faces eviction soon, little has changed
since Mubarak fell.

“We thought that after the revolution the situation would
improve. We had no idea that the thieves would return,” she
said. “They cheated us. We had hope that this country would
improve but that did not happen at all.”

The government has announced plans to build one million
houses for low income individuals in a project worth $280
billion Egyptian pounds, one of the biggest in the region, with
the help of the United Arab Emirate’s Arabtec Holding.

But many poor Egyptians remain sceptical.

“Those are not for us, it is not for our level. This is for
the soldiers and officers and their people,” said Hind Gomaa,
who lives in a building due to be torn down.